Magical Creative Spirit

Yes…it’s true…with all the rain, work, and various other comments. The Garden Art participants (myself included) fell out of the wheelbarrow. One thing I’ve learned from this first on line class is ….shorter time frame!!!  A week or a month is very managable for me…much past that and not only do I fall out of the wheelbarrow but it runs over me. We will definately be doing more classes here at The Magical Creative Spirit but we will keep them a bit shorter in duration!!! 

 In the meantime, perhaps your garden is in full bloom. In the splendor of summer is a great chance to snap some awesome photos…it’s not too late…..we can and will finish our lovely art journals!

Prompt 11    Rock Gardens          Main Idea: Using Texture

For this page in your art journal use some texture…perhaps fabric, or embossing but something to create texture. Nature has so much beauty and so many textures. Rock gardens are wonderful examples. If you have one… feature some photos of your rock garden on this page!

Prompt 12  Garden Furniture:     Main Idea: Outdoor Living

For this prompt focus on your outdoor living spaces, journal about them and perhaps include a photo….or maybe look through magazines and include a photo of what you would like your outdoor space to be like…

Prompt 13   Flower Language    Main Idea:  A Picture’s Worth a 1000 Words

This page…no journaling,…..let your photos of flowers speak for you!  Use lots….maybe a collage…or a kalidiscope of color.

Prompt 14- Garden Names      Main Idea: Folded Paper

This page: Name you garden…what should you call it…Serenity Place?  Set with a pad and pencil and brainstorm names for your lovely creation. Then create a page highlighting the name and as an added challenge….use some kind of folded paper in your creation!

Prompt 15    A Rose By Any Other Name:  Main Idea: Tearing Paper

This page focuses on the royal rose…create roses for your page in whatever and how many colors you’d like…oh one thing though….you have to tear the paper to create your roses…no cutting!!!

Prompt 16  The Morning Garden     Main Idea: Using the Day Before Us

For this prompt you need to get up EARLY one morning, sit in your garden, be silent, listen and look…absorb the sites and sounds of the garden. Sip coffee or tea…relax….gather energy and peace for the day ahead…Create your page while this experience is still fresh in your mind and heart.

Prompt 17 The Evening Garden:     Main Idea: Unwinding/Using Chalk

This page is similar to the morning version…but sit quietly in the evening as dusk falls and watch the garden. Notice the sounds and how the coming night brings solitude to the garden. When you create this page…I’ve added the challenge of using chalk!

Prompt 18  The Garden by Moonlight    Main Idea: Embossing

For this prompt….you have to take a night walk in the garden. Wander around the yard, Notice the flowers in their beauty at night. Do they shimmer in the moonlight. Maybe you will encounter a small rabbit or other creature visiting along with you! Now use some embossing to create your Moonlite Garden page!!!

Prompt 19: Spring Garden:     Main Idea: Use Pastels

For this page….think pastels…use photos, lace, or other embellishments to journal about a garden in spring….this might be a good time to write a poem about the beauty of a garden.

Prompt 20:  Summer Garden:    Main Idea: Use Vibrant Bold Colors

Think full bloom….beauty in bold and vibrant colors. Take photos, use fabric, or other materials to highlight bold and beautiful blooms!!!   Journal about summer, how you enjoy it, hate it, use it to travel along life’s path.

My apologies for falling behind here. Hopefully it gave you a chance to catch up a bit with the process. Here are the prompts for Week Four:

Prompt Ten:  Garden Art  Main Idea: Make it Three Dimensional

For this page we are going to focus on garden art…the little treasures you like to display in your beds. Whether it’s simple beautiful stones, angels, or little frogs. Show off your garden art…or the things you are dreaming of adding to your beds!

• Journal about the things you love in a garden…be it angels or frogs. Talk about why this particular “love” is like you.  The things we choose to display tells a story about us.  Use this page to tell the story with sketches, pictures cut from magazines or a variety of materials
• Make this page three-dimensional in some way…whether its attaching little frogs…or using pretty buttons in the corner of the page…give this page some pizzaaaz

Prompt Eleven:  Rock Gardens  Main Idea: Using texture

• Think about rock gardens or just rocks in general…some people like to use them as nature’s art in the garden. And some people’s experiences with rocks…involve digging them out of their beds. So whether you love or hate rocks..this page is “rocky”
• The challenge is to bring some type of texture to this page…use colored sand, crimped paper, embossed paper or some type of technique to create a texture.
• Attach your journaling written on a rock…either torn from paper or sketched by hand. Write about rocks…whether it’s related to your garden or your life…such as “rocky road”.

Prompt Twelve:  Garden Furniture   Main Idea:  Outdoor Living

• Take pictures of your garden furniture to add to this page later
• Sketch a sample layout of furniture placement
• Find a picture of your dream furniture.
• Journal about things you like to do outside in the yard, patio, or on the deck. Tell a favorite story about out door living spaces.

Prompt #7  Singles

Main Idea:  Focal Point

For this page think about a photo of a SINGLE plant or flower or bud. Now is a good time to look for single “perfect buds” to photograph. Our Redbud tree is looking pretty so I plan to snap a photo of a bud from that!

• Snap “singles” photos and create a page using several of them OR enlarge a particularly good one and use it as a focal point on your page
• Journal about individuality
• Use the number one somewhere in your layout

Prompt # 8 Groupings

Main Idea: Multiple images

For this page you are going to use multiple images…either different shots of different plants or different angles and views of the same plant or garden.

• Try one of the kalediscope layouts using mirror images of the same photo
• Create a mosiac layout using different views of the same flower, plant, or bed.
• Create a layout that looks like the old film strips
• Journal about different views, different perspectives, and different approaches to gardening

Prompt # 9 Non-Flowering

Main Idea:  The Beauty of Leaves: Examining shapes

• This page is about non flowering plants. Try to use three to four different photos, sketches, that features the many different shapes available naturally courtsey of Mother Nature.
• Journal about your favorrite non flowering plants…do you adore ferns, ornamental grasses or some other?  Write about the beauty of simple green!
• Try using different shades of green on this page

Okay I must admit…I am yet to get Prompts…3-6 done!!!  But hey we have all summer to complete the garden journal…the prompts will stay up…so if you are like me…just keep plugging away!  I will try to get up some new photos this week…maybe that will inspire us!

Lots of cute pages coming from Week One…so we are continuing on with ideas to explore for Week Two:

Prompt Four:  Memories of Gardening

Main Idea:  Using black and white photos or a heritage look

• Journal on this page about your memories of gardening from your childhood…Vegetable garden or flowers?  What sights do you remember?  The people you associate with gardening?  The smells and the sounds of the gardens from your childhood
• Consider a then and now theme…with a two page layout…one of you from childhood and a more recent one. Keep with the garden them by using outside photo

Prompt Five:  Dreams of Gardening: Your perfect garden

Main Idea:  Bring Your Dreams to life

• Journal about the elements you would like in your perfect garden.  Use sentences, a list, or just words to paint a picture of the perfect garden you envision.
• For this pages “art”…use muted colors or blurred images to create a dream like image. 
• Or create a collage of images from your “perfect garden”. Search magazines or online for ideas and images.

Prompt Six:  One New Thing This Year

Main Idea:  Plan a new garden idea/ Use a new type of embellishment

• Journal about something new you would like to try this year in your garden. A new plant? A new bed design?
• In the process of creating the page try a new embellishment…one that is new to you. Buttons, ribbon, embossing, or anything. Stretch your creativity. Explore!

Well…here’s a photo from Prompt Two:  Garden Plans/Layouts

And a closer up photo of the Fairy Garden Plans:

I’m going to start adding Prompt One pages from myself and others….

By Basket:  For more pictures…check out her site: HERE

Whimsical Mom’s….Check out her blog for step by step photos: HERE

 Ginger’s Page….sorry for the poor angle….I used chalk on my page…the bottom was created using a wheel from Stamp in Up and colored pencils with blender pens.

I’ll add either more photos or the links to more Prompt One photos as they become available.

Okay…you have had four weeks to get your journal, gather your supplies and get yourself psyched up for the class. Now the moment you have been waiting for.  Your first set of prompts. Please remember that you can change or alter the prompts at any time to suit you. The techniques, questions, and things to include on the page are just suggestions. You may do the prompts for the week in any order, single or double page layouts. Also note…if you can not keep up the pace of three pages a week…do two or one…whatever suits you and your lifestyle BUT the goal is to get something done in the journal every week!  Another key point:  This is an ART JOURNAL so experiment with art techniques and try new creative things. AND be sure and write something, express yourself with poems, your own notes, or journal entries.

Prompt One:  Favorite Flowers/Colors   

Main Idea: Experiment with Color

• Create a page about your favorite colors in the plant world. Are you in love with roses or do you drool over Gerber Daisies?  Do you like sunshine yellow or deep red?
• What colors, shapes, and sizes catch your eye the most?  You may use clippings from magazines or seed catalogues. You can sketch or use water colors. You can use paper to cut or tear your flowers. Or try creating one from ribbon.
• Use actual photos if you like or leave a space to add one later.
• Write or find a poem about your favorite plant and use it as your journaling.
• Use color swatches instead of actual plant pictures…detailing the colors you love most!

REMINDER:  These are just ideas to get you thinking…use one or two of them…or pick something of your own!  I have my page almost done and hope to get a photo up later tonight!!

Prompt Two:  The Palette of My Garden  

Main Idea: Examine Visual Appeal

Create a page of the layout of your beds or pick just one bed to feature on this page.

• Sketch, use ribbon, or other materials to represent the flowers and bed.
• If you have pictures of your beds in full bloom include them or leave spaces for photos taken later in the season.
• For ideas about bed design: Flower Garden Design Tips or  The Kitchen Flower Bed 
• Journal about the kinds of layouts you like….all one kind of flower, mixed, sizes etc.

Prompt Three: Mary Mary Quite Contrary How Does Your Garden Grow?   Main Idea:  Journal About Your Experiences

This page will focus on a success or failure in gardening. that wheel barrow full of dead plants that never got in the ground or that award winning rose bush. Your choice but this page needs to contain the story of the success or failure…either in words, pictures, or both.

• This might be a good two page layout…one side a success….the other a failure!
• As an added challenge…find words or a sentence in a magazine to include in your layout.
• OR use the nursery rhyme Mary Mary and reword it to make a statement about a success or failure!

Okay…that’s it for week one…but check back in because I will be adding photos throughout the week.

Okay to get your creative juices flowing here is a little pre class assignment….

Decorate the cover of your art journal…one word of caution….if you are going use a lot of embellishments or bulky items to decorate the cover….you may want to save this assignment until the very end instead of doing it ahead of time.

Date pieces: Have you decided if you are going to have one item that you use for the date on every page? Like a metal tag…punched flower….or little plant stakes cut from paper? No matter what you want to use…make a bunch of them up this week…you may not be able to add the date itself since you won’t know exactly the days you will be working on your pages but you can make the embellishment and then add the date as you make the pages.

I’ll try to get back in a couple days and post pictures of my cover and my date items…

Our class will start in a little over a week. In the meantime…get inspired by looking at beautiful pictures of flowers and gardens.

  This lovely dark and light pink appeals to me. And also the bright colors of these Gerber Daisies. I love the fresh crisp colors and the smooth lines of the Daisies….they just say FUN to me.

  But nothing is as beautiful as a whole bed full of wonderful colors mingling together and glistening in the sunlight.

So browse the internet, get out those seed catalogues, or look at your gardening books. It’s time to let our eyes feast on the beautiful colors of flowers! Let’s plan to bring some of those colors into our own personal art journals.